Left Out Quotes

“To be me is to be different...”
― Robert Fanney, Dreams of the Ringed Vale

“Do you know that being a stranger is the hardest thing that can happen to any one in all this world?”
― Gene Stratton-Porter, Laddie: A True Blue Story

“The only thing worse than not knowing where she belonged...was knowing where she didn't.”
― Tessa Shaffer, Heaven Has No Regrets

“I don't think I can marry, I'm not fit for it, I'm not real enough. That's the trouble. I'm a puppet that's realised what's wrong with itself and it's horrible. I'm propped up somewhere all alone, watching the real people go past. I'm propped up crying in a corner.”
― Iris Murdoch, The Message to the Planet

“They were all so jovial and relaxed with one another, fraternal even. Maybe I was envious of that. They had lives—that was evident.”
― Ottessa Moshfegh, My Year of Rest and Relaxation

“But Lunch Isn't That Bad, Really

Once I get used to
having to eat with two people
instead of one.

Two people who have known each other
for such a long time
that they practically speak in code.

Two people who are always saying,
"Remember the time when this happened?"
and "Remember the time when that happened?"

(Which, of course,
I never do,
because I wasn't there.)

Well, okay,
it is that bad.
It sucks, even.”
― Sonya Sones, What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know

“Suddenly Saffron had a picture in her mind of Sarah waiting at the bottom of the wall, and she was angry with herself.
Something changed in Saffron at that moment. She knew all about feeling left out.... That was why she wanted her angel so badly; proof that she mattered as much as anyone else.
"I couldn't really climb the wall," she said. "And if I could, what if I got caught? What would I say?"
"You'd think of something."
"No. It was a stupid idea. Let's try your way, early in the morning."
"Before breakfast?"
"Yes. All right Mission Control?"
"All right," said Sarah. "All right, Superhero.”
― Hilary McKay, Saffy's Angel

“There is a strong disposition in youth, from which some individuals never escape, to suppose that everyone else is having a more enjoyable time than we are ourselves;”
― Anthony Powell, A Dance to the Music of Time: 1st Movement

“She has never been in the presence, before, of two people who are in love with each other. She feels like a stray child, ragged and cold, with her nose pressed to a lighted window. A toy-store window, a bakery window, with fancy cakes and decorated cookies. Poverty prevents her entrance. These things are for other people; nothing for her.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride

“I am out of the saga, he thought. He had a heavy sense of being left in total isolation; everyone had withdrawn from him and the person who could most have helped him was pre-empted by another.”
― Iris Murdoch, The Nice and the Good

“Being there, but not being there.”
― Anthony Liccione

“My dream is more than just a place to go when I'm feeling left out. It's a place where I can find strength and courage to face the real world. Where I can be bold and take risks, knowing it's just a dream and nothing can hurt me.”
― Rolf van der Wind

“In the distance, people were living lives, having fun, learning, making money, fighting and walking around and falling in and out of love. People were being born, growing up, dropping dead. Trevor was probably spending his Christmas vacation with some woman in Hawaii or Bali or Tulum. He was probably fingering her at that very moment, telling her he loved her. He might actually be happy. I shut the window and lowered all the blinds.”
― Ottessa Moshfegh, My Year of Rest and Relaxation

“this is the last house in summer
and now is the double loneliness
of missing a party you don't even want to be at.”
― James Richardson, By the Numbers

“Everyone seemed to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed except me.”
― Iris Murdoch, The Sea, the Sea

“Bellamy found simply living a task of amazing difficulty. It was as if ordinary human life were a mobile machine full of holes, crannies, spaces, apertures, fissures, cavities, lairs, into one of which Bellamy was required to (and indeed desired to) fit himself. The machine moved slowly, resembling a train, or sometimes a merry-go-round. But as soon as Bellamy got on (or got in), the machine would soon eject him, sending him spinning back to a place where he was once more forced to be a spectator. Perhaps, that was in some mysterious sense his place, his destiny. But Bellamy did not want to be a spectator, nor could he (having no money of his own) afford to be one. Moreover he had never really mastered the art, apparently so simple for others, of passing the time. His failure to find a métier, to find a task which was his task, caused him continuous anxiety, nor did it occur to him to emulate the majority of mankind who positively resigned themselves, seeing no alternative, to alien and unsatisfying work. At one time he had suffered from depression, and was nearer to despair than his friends realised.”
― Iris Murdoch, The Green Knight

“I figured that distance happens and connections fade, and I wouldn’t want anyone to feel obligated to stay friends with me. That wasn’t fair to ask. It just seemed to happen a lot with me.”
― J. Aleong, A Most Important Year

“It didn’t make sense how someone I used to be so close with could suddenly pretend that I didn’t exist.”
― J. Aleong, A Most Important Year

“Not all of us get to be ghosts.”
― Marianne Boruch, Cadaver, Speak

“To say that Bittersweet Café was her happy place was perhaps an understatement. In the last two years, Rachel had left behind her high-pressure executive chef job and Melody her dead-end position in a chain bakery, then decided to open their dream restaurant together. The way all the details had come together was downright magical; nowhere in Denver's history had a functional café and bakery materialized in under four months. But Ana had no doubt there had been a healthy measure of divine intervention in the situation. She could feel it in the mood and the atmosphere of this place. Light, welcoming, refreshing. It was no wonder they'd quickly developed a devoted following. They were already in the middle of plans to take over the vacant space in the strip mall beside them and expand to meet their ever-growing demand.
Ana couldn't be prouder.
If she were truthful, she was also a little jealous. She might be good at her job, and she was certainly well paid, but there was an allure to the idea of working with her best friends, being surrounded by delicious food and baked goods. Too bad she had absolutely no culinary talent. Her mom had made sure she could cook rice properly and prepare Filipino dishes like adobong manok and kaldereta, but her skills stopped there. Considering the fat and calorie content of those foods, she'd left her childhood meals behind in favor of an endless stream of grilled chicken or fish over salad.”
― Carla Laureano, The Solid Grounds Coffee Company

“Not only do you get a chance to get out of Hawksburg again to start up the franchise, but Finn’s heaven sent. He could kick-start our food to the next level. I know you’re ready to stop treading water.”
Treading water. Heaven sent. Finn had been in town less than two days, and already people thought he was more valuable to Honey and Hickory than she was.
Lyndsey leaned both elbows on the prep table and turned to Simone, eyes bright. “Do you think he can teach me how to flambé? I’ve always wanted to try.”
Of course he could. He could teach them to fillet a halibut, or make a red wine reduction. But what did that matter at Honey and Hickory? “You planning to flambé a pork butt?”
Lyndsey shook her head.
“Then it’s a moot point. Finn’s here to help with the reception dinner—that’s it.”
Brows raised, Lyndsey said, “Heard.”
― Chandra Blumberg, Stirring Up Love